Stictionary
by cartoonsforlife1314
Summary: She thought she was the only one. Is she? (This took a pretty irrelevant twist at the end...) CHAPTER 11?
1. I'm not alone!

It was a normal Tuesday in September. The sun was hiding behind the clouds and it was raining. I was walking down the hallway looking through my stictionary when I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I said, as we both picked up our papers. When we look up our eyes meet and I've fallen HARD. I look back down before I start to turn red and he passes me my stictionary. THEN I turn red…

"Stickers, huh?" he asks me. I'm blushing really badly. "It's okay. It's cute." he says as I take my book.

"Yeah…right." I laugh. "Most people think I'm a total dork."

"No, seriously. You're a pretty girl who loves stickers. That's amazing." he says. He sticks his hand out and helps me up.

"I'm Jeremy, by the way." he says. I barely heard-I couldn't get over the fact that he called me pretty.

"Mabel." I say. He smiles at me.

"I can't believe there's another stictionary at this school." he says, pointing to my pink book. "Can I see?"

"What do you mean, 'another'?" I ask. Now it's his turn to turn red.

"I thought I was the only one at this whole school who collected stickers." he said.

My eyes widen. "YOU collect STICKERS?" I ask him, giving him the infamous braces-spit attack…nice one, Mabel…

But seriously? He's totally GORGEOUS and collects STICKERS? I think the universe is trying to set me up.

"Yeah. I started as a kid, a few years ago." he says.

"Huh. What grade are you in now?" I ask him.

"Eighth. You?"

"Seventh." I say, twirling a piece of my hair around my finger. "So, what's your favorite kind of sticker?" I ask him.

"I really like the puffy ones." he says. OHMIGOSH those are my FAVORITE…the universe is setting me up. I LOVE YOU, UNIVERSE!

"Me too!" I say, keeping most of my emotion inside.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Mabel, but I've got to get to my class. We're already at least ten minutes late." he says. We shake hands and walk our separate ways.

AWW. We can be in detention together after school and talk about stickers.

⃝

"Are you happy, man?" Jeremy asks me.

"I'm thrilled." I say.

"You owe me ten dollars for the performance. Drama club needs funding."

"Fine," I say, handing him the bill.

"So you're her…"

"Brother." I finish his sentence. "Could you please keep this up for a while longer? She's heartbroken after the summer and needs some conciliation. I'll pay you twenty dollars a week."

"I can't believe I'm taking money from a skinny little Seven…" he says. "It feels wrong."


	2. Love STICKS

"So what's the coolest googly eye sticker you've ever seen?" I ask him. We're sitting on my couch with my stictionary on our laps.

"Probably one with a three-dimensional frog that had pink sparkly googly things." he says. I'm intrigued.

"Can I see it?" I ask.

"Be patient." he says, and puts a piece of stray hair behind my ear. I snuggle up next to him and look up…and promptly misread the situation.

I close my eyes and pucker my lips but I just feel air.

"What are you doing?" he asks me. I turn red.

"Oh, you know…just stretching my lips. My braces make them hurt sometimes." I say. Seriously? That was VERY embarrassing.

However, it should have been expected. I'm a thirteen-year-old girl, romance is what I seek with a deep passion. I read books about vampires and werewolves falling in love but being forbidden to see each other.

Maybe that's what this is. Forbidden love. Like Romeo and Juliet, the most romantic play like…ever. I'm a seventh grader and he's an eighth grader. There's a line dividing us-him being an upper classman and me being a…upper classman as well. Hmmmmm….

Then he kisses me.

If I thought I couldn't fall into love any more then I was wrong. It was perfect. Except for the fact that my brother walked into the room and interrupted it.

"Oh, come on. This is a public area, Mabel." he says, shielding his eyes.

It lasted for about three seconds, and was totally appropriate. I know that my cheeks turned bright red afterwards when I said, "Woah."And I know that he left directly afterwards.

A week afterwards I'm confused. Are we dating? Are we friends who just happened to have a little awkward moment?

We haven't talked since the kiss, really. He kind of avoided me in the halls. I kept trying to talk to him but he always had some class to get to and I didn't have his phone number.

It made me question if I was doing anything wrong.

⃝

"You have the money, Seven?"

"Yeah…" I tell him. He's intimidating-about six inches taller than me and has at LEAST ten more pounds of muscle. I hand him the twenty-dollar bill.

I'm depleting my bank account for my sister to not have her heart broken again.


	3. Stuck like Stickers

"Jeremy! Wait!" I say, chasing him down the hallway at school.

"What?" he asks, looking around. He looks…almost scared. Why? Could I help?

"Well, you're kind of avoiding me since…you know." I lower my voice. "Since the kiss?"

"Mabel…" he says, running his fingers through his hair. I'm swooning on the inside(and potentially on the outside). "Look, it's not you. I just…" he says, and stops. The bell rings.

"I've got to go." he says, turning and heading for his class. His camouflage backpack is bouncing up and down at me and it almost seems to be taunting me…to the tune of a break-up song. Oh, gosh-darned-fiddlesticks!

I try again after school. "Hey." I say, running up and hugging him from behind.

"Hey." he says, kissing my cheek. I swear now I'm blushing so much I look like a tomato.

"So, what's up?" I ask. I'm probably beaming.

"You know you have the prettiest smile?" he says. That makes me smile more, if possible.

"Why, thank you." I say, faking a terrible British accent. "Sir Jeremiah."

"You are most welcome, Lady Mabelton." he says back in a much better accent and we both start cracking up. His blue eyes begin staring straight into my hazel eyes as we sit down in the grass laughing.

I flop onto my back and he lays there beside me. We're just staring at the clouds and all of a sudden my hand feels heavy and I know why. OHMYGOSH.

"That one looks like my pig." I say, completely breaking the mood.

"You have a pig." he says. Not a question, just a statement. "Oh, crap, I've gotta go to soccer practice. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he says, sitting up.

"Sure!" I say, probably a bit too enthusiastic.

"You're the best. I gotta run-I'll tell Coach I had to stay after class for…something." he says.

"Kay." I say. My brother helps me up.

"Why, may I ask, are you laying in the middle of the school's track?" he asks me.

"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie-roll pop?" I ask him.

"What?" he says, and I stand up and poke his nose.

"Boop."

⃝⃝⃝⃝⃝

"Okay, so that's twenty for today…" I say, rifling through my wallet.

"You know, Seven, let's cut it to fifteen. Our fundraiser went pretty well over the weekend." he says, flicking my hat.

"O…Okay…" I say, putting a five back.

He cut down his pay? What?

Why?


	4. The suspense- it's killing me

_Come on, man, hold it together. You're doing this as a favor for some weird little seven with a squeaky voice._

_But it's not a favor. It's kind of blackmailing him. I tell him that I'll go out with his sister and that if he doesn't pay me I'll break her heart._

_It doesn't feel like I'm blackmailing him so much anymore…she's actually kind of sweet once you get to know her._

_She's a grade SEVEN with rainbow-colored braces and massive sweatshirts. Do you want to be known as the guy who's going out with Roy. G. Biv?_

_Sometimes I hate these stupid mental arguments._

_Me too, man. So do you like her or not?_

_I…guess I'm starting to._


	5. I'm a birdie!

"OHMIGOSHOHMIGOSHOHMIGOSH DIPPERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" I hear from about fifty feet away.

My sister's running into my room at full speed, and starts bouncing on my bed.

"Yeah, Mabel?" I say. She's really excited. What's going on? Must be BIG.

"Jeremy asked me out on our FIRST OFFICIAL DATE CANYOUBELIEVEITOHMIGODIHAVENOTHINGTOWEARINEEDBROFASHIONTIPSNOWMAN!"

I clean my ear out with my pinky trying to figure out what was just said. Although, that probably doesn't matter since she's already facing me holding up two sweaters. One is adorned with a massive red sparkling heart and the other has a puppy on the front.

"So?" she says. I'm still trying to figure out what she said.

"Uh…Mabel, maybe a sweater's not the best idea. You know…because it's September and about 100 degrees outside. I don't want you to get a heat stroke." I tell her. She's beaming.

"Oh, okay. Thanks!" she says, running out of the room again.

Did she say she was going on a DATE with Jeremy? Dear God, how much is THIS going to cost me?

⃝⃝⃝⃝⃝

I'm sitting on my bed pondering what to wear that isn't a sweater. Do I even own anything that's not a sweater? I don't think so.

I open my closet, which is a complete and utter mess, and start pushing hangers after hangers with sweaters on them over to the side.

"No…no…Why do I even OWN that?" I say about a dress with bows all over the entire front side. "No…no…no…hmm, maybe this would work…"

I'm messing with my hair, trying to figure out something to do when my brother walks in. I swear his jaw dropped to the FLOOR.

"What are you WEARING?" he asks. I twirl around a little bit, and it makes the purple fabric fly out like a flower. I love that.

"Do you like it?" I ask. He's still kind of gaping.

"I…I…uh…I've got to go." he says. I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Look, man, even though I'm your sister, it's okay to say it looks good." I tell him, kind of shaking him in the process. He's still befuddled. (I love that word!)

"Sure." he says. "I've really got to go."

This time I let him.

Well, I thought it looked good. I didn't even know that this was in existence in the history of my closet until about an hour ago, and I'm liking this new aura to my closet's magicalness.

⃝

"Wow. You look…wow." Jeremy says. I just know I have to be blushing.

"Thanks." I say. "You look wow too."

If my dorky brother was here he'd be complaining about our lack of adjectives, but he's not, so therefore adjectives are irrelevant.

It's totally dark. There's a massive screen in front of us. We've got an Extra Jumbo sized popcorn and a large soda. Cherry Pitt-my favorite.

Clearly, we're at the aquarium.

⃝

I'm just joking. We're at the movie theater, and I have absolutely no idea what movie we're seeing. I'm kind of flicking my earring over and over-bad nervous habit.

The movie starts. "Awww…black and white?" I say, and about ten people tell me to either 'be quiet', 'shut up', 'shhhhhhhhhhhh', or something I'm not comfortable repeating.

Jeremy takes a massive handful of popcorn and puts it in his mouth. He promptly spits it out.

"What did you put on this?" he asks.

I force a smile on my face as I say, "Sprinkle-flavor seasoning…"

"Well…I love it." he says, choking the words out.

I'm not dumb. I can tell when someone's lying. Especially my brother. His nose turns bright red. I called him "Rudolph" for about three months after I figured it out.

This is the most BORING movie I've ever seen. It's about some random lady, and she's speaking in French, and there's SUBTITLES. I prefer my movies in a language I speak, thankyouverymuch.

So basically, this lady's got a kid who's some sort of prodigy or something, and then he eats a rabbit and jumps out the window screaming "I'm a birdie!"

Well, that's what I've seen. That's not actually what it's about, probably. Plus the subtitles aren't even in ENGLISH. They're in Spanish.

Who goes to an English-speaking country to watch a movie in SPANISH?

"So…do you like it?" he asks me. I'm trying to be polite.

"Suure…it's pretty groovy." I say. Groovy? Where did that some from? Have I been transported back in time to the Seventies?

It would be better than this movie.


	6. I am a pineapple

"How much is this going to cost, man?" I ask. "I've got forty right now, and I can gi-"

"Don't sweat it, Seven. It's only ten." he says. Excuse me? Did I hear that right?

"TEN? But…but you…you paid for movie tickets and snacks and-"

"Are you saying you WANT to pay me more?" he asks.

"No." I say, quieter than I intended, and also much squeakier.

"Okay, then we're good. Only ten."

"Okay…only ten."

⃝⃝⃝⃝⃝

"So, how'd it go?" my brother asks me.

"How do you THINK it went?" I ask him, and it comes out sounding rude, which I didn't mean to do. I'd run upstairs crying last night because I thought it went so awful and he didn't like me and I was nervous and oh jeez…

"I'm sorry." he says. "On the bright side, next time will go better."

I look up at him, probably pretty menacingly. I haven't even changed my clothes or washed my face an it's noon. "Next time?"

"Yeah. You were ignoring your phone so much that you didn't see the eleven messages you got." he says, holding up my pink rhinestone-covered phone.

Sure enough, it says eleven messages.

I read through a few of them and close my phone.

"So, was the movie any good?" Dipper asks me.

"If you like black-and-white movies where they're speaking French." I say, punching him in the arm.

"There were subtitles, right?" he says.

"Yeah, but they were in Spanish." I reply.

"You don't speak Spanish or French." he states. It's true.

"Hey, I resent that. I know some French." I tell him. He looks at me.

"Like WHAT?"

"Jay swee un ananas." I say, pronouncing the words completely wrong.

"Je suis un ananas?" he says, perfectly pronouncing the words, as always. "What does that even mean?"

"I am a pineapple…" I say, avoiding eye contact.

"Mabel, I love you and I say this with as much respect as I can… THAT WILL NEVER HELP YOU." He grips my shoulders when he tells me it will never help.

"I could be talking to a pineapple." I retort.

"And people would think you're a loon." he says.

"Too late." I say, flopping onto my back on my bed again.

"So what was the movie about?"

"How should I know?" I say.

"You're the one who saw it. What was the film part like?"

"Well, it was black and white. And it was about this lady who had a kid who jumped out the window 'cause he thought he was a birdie." I say. "After that I fell asleep."

"Was that what it was really about? I was thinking about seeing it but now it sounds awful."

"DON'T SEE IT. MAINTAIN YOUR INTELLECT." I say. "AND YOUR SANITY."

"Mabel, it couldn't have been that bad." he says.

"I ran out of popcorn so I started eating my HAIR!" I reply.

"Okay…that's just weird." he says, laying down beside me.

"You're just weird." I say, elbowing him.


	7. Not quite lobster

"So…" I say, sneaking up behind Jeremy (and scaring the pee out of him).

"So…Mabel." he says, turning around.

"You never told me when that dinner date's gonna be." I tell him, poking him in the face.

"Dinner date?" he says, attempting to run his fingers through my hair (and miserably failing, may I add, because I can't run a brush through it myself sometimes).

"Oh, you know…that one we're supposed to have where I can order lobster to make up for the movie and the popcorn fails?" I say.

"Oh…THAT dinner date." he says, going along with my crazy tactics. I love this guy! "Yeah, that's supposed to be tonight, isn't it?"

"It is." I say, nodding. He kisses my cheek.

"Well, Cinderella, I guess you'd better go get ready for the ball." he says. "And I shall do the same."

"If you're going to be wearing a dress I'm not coming." I tell him, jokingly.

"And if you're wearing a tuxedo I will still come but I'll be confused." he says, kissing my cheek again.

"We should do that!" I exclaim. "You know, cross-dressing on dates. It would be so much fun!"

"Mabel, you're a brilliant girl but this idea is not so brilliant." he says.

"Okay. I'll see you at six?" I say.

"I'll be at your door with your chariot awaiting." he replies, bowing grandly and walking down the hallway.

"Bring stickers!" I yell down the hallway.

⃝⃝⃝⃝⃝

"Mabel, your friend is here!" my mother calls upstairs.

"I'm coming! Tell him I'll be there in a sec!" I say, adjusting my dress for the third time. I'm not sure how people expect these to stay up with the tiny little straps.

I take the tube of lip gloss off of my desk and put it into my bag after putting a tiny bit on. I pull on my shoes and head downstairs, descending the stairs in slow motion because I've seen it in movies that way.

"What are you doing?" Dipper asks me. He's walking downstairs too but at normal speed, so he beats me down by eight steps.

"I'm being dramatic." I say, and then start coming down at normal speed.

"Okaymomdadillbehomeatabout830andilltextyouonthewayhomeokayloveyoubye!" I say, running out the door.

His dad's car is out in front. It's no chariot, but it's much cleaner than my mom's muddy SUV.

"Hey." he says when I get in the car. "Nice hat."

I poke the underside of my massive floppy hat that I'd worn to get out of the house without my brother (and/or father) teasing me about wearing makeup.

"Thank you. Would you care to try it on?" I ask, not waiting for an answer before I put it on his head.

"It looks lovely, doesn't it?" he says, trying to imitate a female British accent, which makes me laugh. He takes off the hat.

"So, it's not lobster, but it's salmon." he says, as we're pulling up in front of the Smoked Salmon Grill.

"The salmon here's like fifty dollars! I'm not going to order the most expensive thing on the menu!" I say.

"That's okay. You can order whatever you want." he says.

"How are you paying for this?" I ask him, beaming.

He looks at his shoes.

⃝⃝⃝⃝⃝

"Okay, Seven, so that's fifteen."

"I thought it was ten last week?" I say, and then stop. This guy could make me a pretzel if he wanted to.

I hand him fifteen dollars and he hands me five back. "You're right. I should keep the price the same."

"Thanks." I say, a little bewildered. What on earth?


	8. Halloweenie

Ahh, Halloween. My favorite holiday of the year. A day where you get to wear a costume and take candy from strangers and nobody thinks you're a weirdo.

And my brother and I are doing our matching costume deal this year.

"No." he says, looking at one of my sketches.

"Aww, come on, bro, why not?" I say.

"Because I'm not going as Mario and Luigi. It's ridiculous." he says, flipping the page over in my sketchpad.

"Fine. Next." I say, sighing. We've been at this for an hour.

"Mabel, I'm not wearing a blue wig and a t-shirt." he says. "Plus we already did this in second grade."

"Fine. No Thing One and Two." I say. I've made about a hundred sketches so we could be here a while longer.

"Cereal and milk? Are you insane?" he says. Next page.

"No. Mabel, just no."

"But why not? I get to wear wings!" I say. That was one of my favorites.

"Yeah, and I get to carry a pitchfork. NEXT."

"I am NOT going as a horse butt and following you around."

"Ketchup and Mustard? Really? Isn't that a bit of a stereotype?"

After another half-hour of putting up with his negatory( I love this word! I made it up!) comments we finally decide on M&M's.

He grumbles something about needing to finish up his Algebra homework and I get straight to work on our costumes.

The next day, Jeremy asks me what I'm doing for Halloween.

"Well, I'm trick-or-treating, duh." I say.

"But you're thirteen." he replies. He looks a bit shocked.

"Yeah, so?" I say, challengingly.

"Well, there's this great party at Melanie Brooks' house, and-"

"Stop right there. I am totally on board. Tell me the details." I say, not realizing that I totally just double-booked.

"Well, it starts at eight, no adults, and-"

"No grown-ups?" I say. Who's going to manage all the kids? What the heck?

"Yeah. That's the best kind." he says. "You've got a costume, right?"

"Absolutely." I say. "I'll be there." He hands me an invitation and walks away.

When I get home I'm pacing around my room, braiding and unbraiding my hair in tiny sections. That's my stress coping mechanism.

"Mabel? You've been in here for an hour and a half just walking." Dipper says, opening my door. "Mom said to leave you alone because it was a 'teenage girl thing' but I'm really worried. Should I leave?"

"No, actually, please come in." I say, sitting down in the middle of my rug. "I'm stressed."

"Clearly." he says, swatting my hand away from a braid."You're going to end up tearing your hair out. Stop."

"I…just…I…have you ever had to make a difficult decision between two people you really love?" I ask.

"Well, there was that one time over the summer where I wanted to go to Wendy's party but I ended up trick-or-treating with you and having the best time ever." he says. Oyyyyyyyyy. NOT HELPING!

"Yeah. I'm kind of stuck in the middle here, bro-bro. I need your smart brain for advice." I say.

"So you have two things you're stuck between doing?" he says. I nod. "Well, you should think about which person would care more if you didn't do what they wanted. And which person would care less."

"Um hmmmmmm…" I murmur.

"Mabel, I know that whatever you do you're going to make the right choice. Do you know why?" he asks. I shake my head in a 'no' movement. "Because you're Mabel Pines. You're an incredibly smart person. You figure out which is more important to you and then go with that. Nobody can stay mad at you." he says, hugging me. "I have got to go. Mom will be very mad if she realizes that I interrupted your 'teenage girl' time."

I grab my sketchpad and start writing things down. I make a T-chart, with "Party" on the one side and "Brother" on the other side.

I know that Dip would love me no matter what I chose, he'd just be a little disappointed if I chose the party. For that exact reason I don't want to disappoint him, because sometimes it's worse than when someone's mad. Jeremy…I'm not so sure. I've known him for what, a month? He's still pretty unpredictable. He could be one of the mad people or the disappointed people.

I look at the invitation, and then look at my desk. I need to say something, but I'm uncomfortable with swear words. Even though they might end up helping. Even just a minor one? No. Mabel, control yourself. Swearing is totally not cool. Just think of something else…oh, screw it.

"Crap." I scream out loud to nothing in particular. "Crap crap crap crap crap!"


	9. Sad Chapter because my dog died :(

I stayed up all last night putting finishing touches on the M&M costumes. Dipper's going to be so surprised. I spent FOREVER on his-mainly because I wanted it to be perfect. Instead of an 'm' I put a big 'd' on the front. It's Halloween day and I'm thrilled.

The reason I didn't finish them sooner is because I was working on a 'special project', as I told my brother. That 'project'? Finding a way to make it to the party AND trick-or treat all in one night.

I don't want to disappoint either person, because then I'd feel really bad.

"Hey hey hey, Dippin' Sauce, Happy Halloween!" I announce when I walk into my brother's room. Man, am I tired. Whoo.

"Mabel, it's 5:25. Come back in an hour." he says, rolling over and putting the covers over his head.

I decide to text Jeremy, who, as a loyal boyfriend should, texts me back within a minute.

"Hey happy halloween youre coming to the party right?" I read off. He's not grammar-tastical but still the best.

"Totally. C U There "

I fall asleep on my desk.

_I walk into the party dressed as a princess. I'm not even sure where I got this costume. Jeremy is standing right there, under a piece of mistletoe, for whatever reason. Suddenly a spotlight turns on and he asks me to dance. Of course I accept and oddly I know how. We're dancing around in some random room when he suddenly does that move where he lets me fall back onto his arm and he's about to kiss me. Three seconds away…and then he says "Mabel. It's time for school." in a totally different voice. What?_

"Mabel. Get up. It's time for school. I'm not telling you again."

I wake up to my brother shaking me to try to wake me up.

"Yeahwhat?" I say. He shakes his head.

"It's time for school. Get ready."

"Okay…" I say, drowsily. Man, am I tired.

I get dressed into a big fuzzy sweatshirt,(or what I thought was a big fuzzy sweatshirt) yawn again, and put on a pair of jeans. I brush my teeth and I'm too lazy to brush my hair today so I just put it in a ponytail. I attempt to put on lip gloss and then walk out of the bathroom.

"Woah." Dipper says. I wave and say, "Hi Fiddleford." and walk downstairs. He just shakes his head.

When our mom's driving us to school I fall asleep in his lap.

When I wake up, my face suddenly feels significantly cleaner. I put my hand on my mouth and notice that it's not a mess anymore.

My brother's sleeping on his seatbelt holding a napkin covered in pink goopy stuff.

I have the best brother ever. Then I look at my outfit and realize that I'm wearing a plaid shirt with polka-dotted pants. Oh, come ON.

We pull into the school parking lot and I wake him up by taking the napkin and putting it on his face.

"What the heck?" he says, trying to figure out what's on his face. I smile.

Just because he's the best brother ever doesn't mean I can't tease him.

"Hey, Mabel." I hear, and turn around.

"Hey, Jeremy." I say. "So about that party?"

"You're not cancelling, right?" he asks, paranoid.

"Why would I be cancelling? It's 'the event of this Halloween'." I say, reading off the invitation.

"Right." he says. "So I guess I'll see you there. Nice outfit, by the way."

"Yeah, thanks, jerkface." I say, punching him in the arm. He knows I'm kidding.

I make it through most of my classes awake, but History is just so darned fiddlestickin' boring! I fell asleep about halfway through a lecture on something about fur trappers (I think).

My brother totally covered for me. He woke me up with a balled up piece of paper when my name was called and told the teacher that I had bad eyesight so I needed to be close to the paper to write.

It wasn't honest, but still worked. The teacher suggested that I get glasses. At this point of sleep deprivation I think I may need a bit more.

When the day is over, I make sure to thank my brother a million times in the car. That's the kind of thing that he would do. I stick a lip-glossed napkin to his face and he lies to the teacher to cover for me sleeping.

I gotta start being a better sister.

When we get home I offered to help with his costume, but he says that he'll be fine. So I took extra time on mine. I actually even curled my hair.

Of course, Dip was shocked. He didn't like it, to be honest. I could tell. That bothered me, but I didn't say anything.

Our mom got out the big camera, like we do every year, and took a picture of our costumes in front of the stairs, like we do every year.

I ask if she'll print one out for me for my scrapbook of Halloween memories-like I do EVERY YEAR. Some traditions just never change.

This year, our parents have decided that we're finally old enough to go by ourselves, without an adult. It's 6:30.

We manipulate the neighbors with the "twin costumes" idea once again, and once again, they all find it absolutely adorable.

It's the same old routine every year. Except for this year.

7:30. Crap. (Oh my gosh. What is happening to me? I keep saying that…)

"Hey, Dip, I…uh…I gotta go do a…thing." I'm a terrible liar and he knows.

"Sure you do. What 'thing'?" he asks. Oh, I feel so terrible…

"Well…uh…you know…crap." I say, muttering the last part.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" he says. "Did you just say crap?"

"No, I said crab. Not crap. Crab." Come on! I did it again.

He looks at me for a while. "What's going on, Mabel?"

"Nothing! Ha ha ha…everything is totally fine!" I say, too enthusiastically. "I gotta run. See ya!"

He grabs a piece of my hair. "OW!"

"Sorry! I'm really sorry. But come on, we share everything." he says. He looks almost…sad. He puts his arm on my shoulders.

"Oh my God. This is private. I have to go. It's important." I say, pushing his arm off. It sounds a bit snobby. Oh my god. I sound like a terrible person right now. I'm turning into Pacifica. Oh my GOD.

Did I just think the words 'Oh my God'? Something is definitely wrong. Did I just SAY the words 'Oh my God'? Oh my God…

"You're sure you're okay?" he asks. If my stupid brain would function I could be a decent person and explain. But no. My stupid brain cares about being popular.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I kind of snap back. Stop being a jerk, Mabel! Just SHUT UP and be a nice person again!

"Okay. I'll walk you back home to get your bike." he says.

"I'm not a BABY. I can do it myself." I say.

"Fine! Do this stupid, important thing that matters so much to you!" he screams. I turn my back and begin to walk away.

"You're being a real %#$* " he says, and ends the sentence with a word I'd never thought I'd be called. Especially by my own brother.

"Maybe I want to be a %#$* " I screamed back. Did I seriously just say that? Oh my God…

I sit down on the sidewalk and start crying. I'm not going to this party. I could care less.

Well, I wish that's what I could say. But sadly, I can't. Being the idiot I am, I walked home and rode my bike to that stupid party, where everyone laughed at me because I hadn't gotten the memo that girls don't wear big puffy costumes.

It was nothing like my dream. Jeremy didn't even notice I was there.

I ended up riding my bike home thirty minutes after I got there. When I got home I realized that I was utterly alone.

I'd ditched my friends once I met Jeremy, who wouldn't acknowledge my existence at the party. And I'd ditched my brother to go to that stupid party.

Now I have no friends, no boyfriend, and no brother.

How have I screwed up my life so terribly in a month?

I think I've just about run out of tears, so I knock on my brother's door. "It's Mabel." I say.

I hear him get up, and he locks the door. He's never locked me out before.

I think I really might be a witch-with-a-b.


	10. The End

I've been cold-shouldered by my brother all week. This sucks. (Excuse my language, I'm working on that.)

The longest we've ever gone without talking is three hours, so this is definitely BAD. That stupid party screwed with my life so terribly I don't even have the words to say it.

Another thing: I've been wearing black all week too. Yeah. I NEVER wear black. So we're clearly both depressed and I need to fix it-quick. I've learned that hormonal 13-year-old girl problems + sleep deprivation = not a math problem I ever want to solve again.

And I'm really sorry about everything that I did, but I don't get the time of day from my brother any more. He won't even talk to me at dinner.

My mom is really worried, and so is my dad. They've both tried to talk to us, but we both don't want to talk. I dug through my dresser the other day, and put everything that was either black or grey on my bed. Sad colors. I'm not happy, so why should I wear happy colors?

I haven't worn any vibrant colors for a week. I actually ran out of black stuff twice this week and had to wash it all again.

November is supposed to be a happy month. It even sounds happy (well, to me). So why am I not happy in November? I don't think it can get any worse.

"Hey, Dip." I try for the bazillionth time, knocking on his door. "Can I please come in? I'm really sorry."

He opens the door and looks out. "Sure you are." he says sarcastically, and slams the door again. CRAP.

Are you kidding me? I've been trying to STOP that! Well…at least he talked to me.

I look down at my black sweater. I had to knit this one because all the rest of my dark-colored sweaters had a happy puppy or a smiling dolphin or some other happy thing on them.

This has no picture. Just black. As black as my heart was last week. I was SUCH a jerk.

I need a pig hug desperately right now.

Even Waddles won't give me his full affection. He knows that I did something really mean. I can just feel it. Pigs are very smart animals.

I feel awful. I'm not hungry, I can't sleep, I can't even watch TV. My mom thinks I'm sick. Yeah, maybe in the head.

"Honey?" I hear. My mom comes into my room and sits down next to me. "Are you okay?"

I sniffle. No, I'm really not. "Sure." I say.

"Your father and I want to talk to you. It's very important, so we need you to listen." she says. My dad comes in and sits on the other side of me.

"Sweetheart, we know this is difficult. But we're concerned about you. Have you been 'hanging out' with new people?" my dad asks, using the finger quotes.

Dipper used the finger quotes. Oh, gosh darn it!

"Yes." I say.

"Have you been encouraged to try new things?" my dad asks. Like what?

"Well, I was invited to this party last week." I say.

"Was there drinking?" he asks.

"Of fruit punch."

"Smoking?"

"From the fireplace."

Does he think that I'm a bad kid now? They have to know that I'd never fall into that crowd…right?

"We're concerned about you." he says again. They do! They do think that I'm a bad kid!

"Daddy, I promise I would never do any of that!" I say. I start crying again. I was wrong-it could get worse.

"Sweetheart, I want to believe you. I really do. However, you've been behaving differently," the clothes, the yelling, "you're never hungry," Because I feel guilty 1000% of the time about starting the world's dumbest fight, "and you look sleep-deprived. Your eyes are almost always bloodshot."

Does he think…oh my go-goodness…(caught myself there)

"Has anyone given you something recently? Have you eaten someone else's food? Used someone else's water bottle?"

"No, no, and no." I say. "Dad, I'm totally fine. I'm just depressed."

"So you're not drinking, smoking, or using drugs?"

NO!

"NO! Dad, I'm smart enough to know that those things are bad!" I say. This is a moment where Oh My GOD is totally necessary.

"You're sure? Young kids can be very convincing."

"DAD. I'm fine. I'm ME." I say.

My brother comes out of his room. "Dad, stop. She's fine. I know that she's fine. We just…had a fight, that's all. Promise."

He's standing up for me? But…I was a jerk…why?

"Mabel, I'm sorry for over-reacting. You're not a…" he stops and realizes our parents are in the room, "A what I called you…and I'm sorry for saying that you were."

"I'm so sorry. I can't believe that I thought a stupid party was so important. And I was being one, and you had every right to tell me. I had no right to start a fight over something so stupid, and no right to let it last a week." I say. I'm crying. He comes over and hugs me really tightly.

"Never again." he whispers. "You have to know that I love you more than anyone in the world, okay? We can't let that happen ever again."

I squeeze my eyes shut and hug him tighter.

"I broke up with Jeremy." I tell him, and I can feel that he's smiling. "You were too important for him to be in the way."

He kisses my forehead. "I never liked that guy anyways."


	11. Epilogue-ish revelations

"Scrollin' through Dipper's messages…" I sing under my breath. Jeremy? Hmm, I shall examine this…

"That's fifteen, Seven. " I read off. Fifteen what? "Twenty-five." "Twenty."

What the heck? It's just a bunch of numbers. "Twenty dollars." Ohh…money. That makes more sense…wait WHAT? Was Jeremy blackmailing my brother?

I NEED ANSWERS. I keep scrolling through the old messages and eventually I run into one with a lot of words in the text box. Come on, reading? Booooo.

"Hey. I heard that you're in the Drama club, and I kind of need your help. Could you pretend to love stickers as much as my sister, and potentially date her?" I read off. There're tears in my eyes. "She really needs a relationship that isn't a miserable failure."

Oh my GOSH. Only a few words stand out through my tear-blurred vision. _Pretend…potentially…miserable failure…_

"Hey, Mabel, what are you doing in my room?" I hear. Oh no. "Do you have my phone? Give me that." he snaps. "Are you crying?" he realizes, putting an arm over my shoulder. "What's up?"

I hand him his phone, and he instantly realizes that I've seen his scheming. "You paid him to like me." I say, as more of a statement. He mumbles a word under his breath that he's not supposed to use, getting an elbow from me in the gut. Not a friendly elbow, an irritation elbow.

"Oh my…" he says, facepalming himself. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out about that…"

"I thought that he actually liked me. But no, he was blackmailing my brother." I say, sniffling. "And I can't believe that this was your idea. Why would you do that?"

"Because I didn't want your heart to be broken again. You deserved a perfect romance after the summer of crappy ones you went through." he says.

"Your plan backfired. It hurts even more to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't like you."

He pulls me into a hug. "I guess I didn't really think it through." he says.

"No, not really." I say. "That's probably why he would never show me his sticker book, or talk about stickers, or…"

"Probably. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know." I say, putting my head on his shoulder. "But it did."

"Want to put Jell-O in his locker?" he asks. Typically, that would cheer me up. And plus, what's better than Jell-O? But I don't.

"No." I say. "I just need a little bit of time to let this sink in."

"Take all the time you need. I'm really sorry about this."

But by then I've already walked out of the room.

I'm having a mental argument with myself. Did he really like me, even a little, or was it just acting? He was a pretty darned good actor if it was just acting. I think he might have liked me a little bit…but really, did he? He was an actor. Note to self: Never dating an actor ever again. And why would my brother pay him? Am I really that un-likeable? This is terrible. I don't know what to do! Consult the pig.

"Waddles." I say, sitting down next to the pig, who snorts. Good old Waddles. "Do you believe that Jeremy could have liked me even a little?"

Waddles snorts and puts his front hooves (is that what you call them on pigs?) on my lap. "Oof." I say when he climbs on. He's gone a long way from being fifteen pounds. More like fifteen hundred pounds.

He licks my face. That's pig-talk for "I don't know but I love you."

That's good enough for me.

"Hey Dip!" I say, calling him in to let him know that he's been forgiven. "Wanna go make some Jell-O?"


End file.
